


To Die By Your Hand

by lirallya



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Gen, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29132880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirallya/pseuds/lirallya
Summary: “I trusted you,” Aloy said.“But when did I ever give you cause for that, huntress?”Aloy and Nil have one final confrontation.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: 30PlusFanfic Prompt Channel Fics





	To Die By Your Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short piece from weekly Prompt Challenge. Prompt: “I trusted you.”

“I  _ trusted  _ you,” Aloy said, flexing her hand open and shut, knuckles stinging from the impact. She could have loosed an arrow straight into the soft, pulsing skin at the base of his throat. She could have thrust her spear at his exposed torso and gutted him like a wild boar. But she wanted to— _ needed  _ to—feel his flesh give way beneath her fist. 

Nil rubbed his jaw, and flashed her a bloody grin. It infuriated her that he always smiled in the face of violence. Especially now, when he was on the receiving end of  _ her  _ violence. “But when did I ever give you cause for that, huntress?” 

“You promised you wouldn’t do this again,” Aloy said through gritted teeth. 

Nil merely shrugged. His eyes roamed over the bodies that littered the ground around him. “A blade is made to cut, an arrow made to pierce. You don’t get angry at them for fulfilling their purpose.” 

Aloy growled in frustration. She hated his ornate manner of speaking. Hated the way everything he said held a hint of amusement, as if he knew something she didn’t. “You’re a  _ person _ , Nil, not a weapon. You can control yourself.”

Nil chuckled darkly, his eyes gleaming. “What you call control, I call denying my nature.” 

Aloy clenched her jaw and her fist in tandem, ready to strike Nil again. He filled her with such a fury; she wanted to hit him over and over until bruises blossomed under her touch, until she felt the snap of his bones. “After Meridian, I thought things would be different,” she spat. “But I suppose it was too much to hope that you’d changed.” 

“The fox cannot change its nature,” Nil said smugly. “It’s driven to hunt. It will hunt until its last breath. But unlike the fox, I’m not content to sit back and let old age take me.” 

Realization settled over her like the first frost of winter. “So that’s what this is about? You’re still disappointed I refused to _duel_ _you to the_ _death_?”

He smiled widely at that and licked some of the blood from his teeth. “Like I told you then, huntress. It’s the only fitting end for our legend.”

Aloy’s gaze turned to the bodies around Nil’s feet. These were no bandits, no Shadow Carja cultists. Nil knew this would force her hand. Her chest heaved with shaky breaths, fresh rage heating her from within.

“You feel it now, don’t you?” Nil prompted. His lips curved like the edge of the cruel knife he kept at his belt. “Your blood sings the song of battle. The song will only grow louder, until you give it what it wants.”

“I never wanted to kill you, Nil,” Aloy said, her voice quiet like the calm before a thunderstorm. She’d refused his duel the first time, thought they’d come to an understanding. But if death was the only language he understood, so be it. Aloy drew her bow. 

Something like relief passed across Nil’s face. Aloy saw just a flicker of it in his eyes before he drew his own bow. Perhaps killing him would be justice and mercy both. 

“It will be an honor to die by your hand, huntress.” 

Aloy’s bowstring sang. 


End file.
